When Dave Thomas received his high school diploma from Coconut Creek High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., his classmates voted him "most likely to succeed."

That's not surprising since the then-61 year-old Thomas already was chairman of Wendy's International, the third-largest hamburger chain in the world.

That Thomas, despite his business success, believed it was important to set an example for others by earning his GED in 1993 hints at who he is: a believer in education, self improvement and role models. Another clue is that his high school classmates named Thomas and his wife, Lorraine, king and queen of the prom. People like R. David Thomas, and they feel they know him, so much so that everyone calls him Dave. The more than 700 Wendy's television commercials in which he has appeared (a mark soon to be officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records) have helped make his one of the best-known corporate faces in America.

It's not just the face that's familiar. There's that voice, too, with its self deprecating tone and deadpan delivery that is the antithesis of slick. Bill Gates's latest book is Business at the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy. Dave Thomas's is Franchising for Dummies.

The title may bring a smile, but Thomas knows a thing or three about franchising. He was there when it started to reshape the restaurant business and he helped it along. He has learned what can make a restaurant succeed or fail and what can help a concept like Wendy's expand to more than 5,500 stores around the world. Most of all--and more than most of his peers--Thomas understands how a career in foodservice can fill a void and shape a life. "Mentoring is super-important," Thomas says with his characteristic folksiness. "And having the right mentors." Thomas has had several.

Born in 1932 in Atlantic City, N.J., he was adopted when he was 6 weeks old by Rex and Auleva Thomas of Kalamazoo, Mich. His mother died when he was 5, and he spent his early years moving from town to town as his father sought work during the Depression. "When I was about 6 years old, we moved to Detroit. I don't think we were there very long, but we ate out every meal. I thought it was really neat," Thomas says. "My favorite meal, I, guess, [even] back then, was a hamburger. And it wasn't just a hamburger it was hamburgers. I thought if you didn't have two or three you were starving yourself." He and his father moved to Knoxville, Tenn., and Thomas got his first job, at age 12, delivering groceries. "I hated it," he says. "It was an uphill job: I was always going uphill to the top of apartments. And when I wasn't doing that I was cleaning potato bins and doing windows. I didn't like to do that."

What he really wanted was to work in a restaurant, and he got closer when he left the grocer for a job as soda jerk at a Walgreens drugstore. "I really liked that job," he says. "You got to wear a uniform: a white shirt, black tie and a hat. It was a fun job". He wasn't the best ice cream dipper, he admits, and when it was discovered that he was 12, not 16 as he had claimed, the drugstore job ended.

That was serendipitous because he next landed a real restaurant job: counter worker at the Regas Restaurant in Knoxville. "I worked for Frank and George Regas. They were Greek immigrants. I worked the counter and it was a fantastic experience for me," Thomas says, although shifts often were 12 hours long. "They knew I wasn't quite old enough, but they knew one thing: I had the right attitude." The Regases were Thomas's extended family during his 2 1/2 years there and he says he learned much that served him well in the years to come. "I learned that as long as you try you can do anything you want to," he says. "How it takes the right attitude and how to take care of customers. How important cleanliness and personal hygiene are. These are things I was taught [by the Regas brothers]. "I don't think I could have gone to school and learned more about anything," he says, before catching himself. "Well, I'm sure I could. But the really important things in life are how to get along with people. Frank and George Regas were quality people. They wanted to serve the best food at the best price in the cleanest [restaurant], and that's what I really learned."

Another member of the family, Bill Regas, himself a teenager when Thomas came to work at the restaurant, says the young counter worker "had a vision and a goal even then. Dave and I worked side by side serving blue plate specials. On a good day we'd make we'd make $3.50 in tips plus $1.50 in salary. "He'd say, `Eventually, I'm going to have a chain of restaurants.' Remember, he was about 15, so we'd say, `Yeah, Dave. Tell us about those restaurants,'" Regas says. "But he was so dedicated." When Thomas and his father moved to Fort Wayne, Ind., he immediately landed another job, at the Hobby House Restaurant. And when his father decided to move again, Thomas stayed in Fort Wayne, dropped out of school, moved into the YMCA and kept working at the restaurant. During a stint in the Army, he kept true to his goal and ran an enlisted men's club in Germany though he was only 18. "That was a fantastic experience," he says.

He returned to Fort Wayne and through Phil Clauss, the Hobby House's owner, came into contact with a man from Kentucky "who looked like he'd stepped out of `Gone with the Wind.'" Col. Harland Sanders was peddling a recipe and process for cooking chickens and he'd share it for a royalty of 5 cents a bird. Thomas was skeptical. But he and Clauss visited a restaurant in Morrisville, Ind., that had bought in and their minds were changed. The Blue Bird Inn Featuring Kentucky Fried Chicken was closed when Clauss and Thomas arrived. They thought that was a bad sign. But it turned out the restaurant was only closed temporarily for remodeling--starting in the kitchen--to handle all the business. The owner "was getting $2.20 for a chicken dinner. In a farm community. And I said, `Man?'" says Thomas. Clauss bought a KFC franchise and later several KFC stores in Columbus, Ohio, that were failing. Thomas was dispatched to turn them around with the promise of a 45% interest in the stores if he succeeded. "I really didn't have anything to lose,"Thomas says. "I was only making $85 bucks a week and I had four kids."

Thomas made the stores profitable by reducing the 100 plus-item menu to chicken and side dishes and by introducing the first bucket of chicken. It had the colonel's face on it. "I didn't really know what branding was at that time," Thomas says. "But I guess I understood how important it really is." In 1968 he sold off his KFC stores and started the chain he always vowed he'd run: Wendy's, using the nickname of one of his daughters. "And the rest is history!" Thomas says with a laugh. But he has never forgotten his personal history. He promotes mentoring at Wendy's and throughout the industry, speaks on the virtues of staying in school and has become a tireless national advocate for adoption. "Some people, when they get a little money or success, forget their early days," Bill Regas says. "Dave remembers it all and the people who were there with him. I guess that's why he's the most likely to succeed."